21 SEP 2009 _______________________________________ *EASA And EC Set Out A Strategy For Agency's New Responsibilities *NY-bound Lufthansa jet turns back after oil leak *EASA Braces To Address Crew Flight Time Rules *FAA Launches New Accident Prevention Office *New Safety System Addresses NTSB's 'Most Wanted' Issue of Runway Safety *Stricter punishments for passengers behaving badly *World Airways phases out DC-10Fs *Batch of Cargolux 747-400Fs bound for UPS *NowGen Task Force Sets Near-Term Goals for NextGen **************************************** EASA And EC Set Out A Strategy For Agency's New Responsibilities New Position Based On Stakeholders' Contributions The Management Board of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Tuesday welcomed a common position of EASA and the European Commission (EC) setting out priorities for the extension of the Agency's responsibilities in the areas of Flight Crew Licensing, Air Operations and Third Country Operators ("first extension") as well as in the field of Air Traffic Management/Navigation Services and Aerodromes ("second extension"). Taking into account the comments of airlines, pilots and other stakeholders in response to EASA's consultation documents ("Notices of Proposed Amendments"), the joint position intends to amend and simplify the Agency's initial proposals in a number of areas. "We have listened to our stakeholders and agreed on an approach which will allow for a smooth transition", said Patrick Goudou, the Agency's Executive Director at Tuessay's Management Board meeting. "Our proposals will be based on existing legislation and safety standards". Zoltan Kazatsay, Deputy Director-General for Energy and Transport of the European Commission said: "Changes to existing rules will only be proposed if justified by safety considerations". Michael Smethers, Chair of the Management Board, commended the Agency and the Commission for their work. "These proposals represent a constructive response to the issues raised by stakeholders, and a sound platform on which EASA can prepare to carry out its new functions", he said. The Management Board acknowledged a change in the structure of the Air Operations proposal, which will include dedicated sections for different types of operation. It also agreed to a phased publication of Agency proposals, giving priority to Flight Crew Licensing and Commercial Air Transport (CAT). The CAT proposal will contain specific provisions for Flight Time Limitations based on Regulation 1899/2006 ("EU-OPS", Subpart Q), operational experience and current research and will take into account initiatives by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in the area of Fatigue Risk Management Systems. Transition phases of 1-2 years will allow Member States and industry to better adapt to the new rules. The Agency is also committed to a streamlined comment review process which highlights the changes in the regulatory text and guidance material. All EASA opinions related to the first extension will be published by mid-2011 so that the respective Commission regulations can be adopted by April 2012. The implementing rules for the second extension shall be adopted by the end of 2012 (Air Traffic Management/Navigation Services) and 2013 (Aerodromes) respectively. The report "Joint Commission and EASA approach for rulemaking in the extension of Community competences" is available online. FMI: www.easa.eu.int/ws_prod/g/g_about.php aero=news.net *************** NY-bound Lufthansa jet turns back after oil leak FRANKFURT (AP) - German airline Lufthansa says one of its New York-bound flights has returned to Germany amid reports it was leaking oil from one of its engines. Deutsche Lufthansa AG says the plane, flight LH400, which departed from Frankfurt on Saturday, experienced the problem over Greenland and the captain decided to return to Frankfurt, where the plane landed without problem. The passengers and crew debarked safely and were waiting for a replacement flight that was scheduled to leave late Saturday night. Ann Curry, an NBC television reporter, was on-board and provided public "tweets" - brief, instant internet updates on the Twitter networking site - on the plane's turnaround and landing. ***************** EASA Braces To Address Crew Flight Time Rules The European Aviation Safety Agency this week will hold its first meeting with stakeholders on the contentious issue of crew flight time limitations, as the agency sets out to add regulation of flight operations to its roles in setting aviation rules for the European Union. The changes for EASA come in response to complaints from airlines, unions and others that the existing plan was confusing, poorly defined and overly ambitious. EASA's current responsibilities are limited to safeguarding airworthiness of European aircraft through approval of manufacturing and operational standards. The Airbus A380 was the first aircraft to have received simultaneous FAA and EASA certification. EASA will oversee flight operations and flight crew licensing standards from April of 2012, and that is leading to a bitter conflict between it and airlines. As the agency prepares its new operating rules, EASA Ops, it is considering changes to pilot work-hour limits to take into account the latest pilot fatigue studies (see p. 42). One of those compilations, the Moebus Aviation study completed last September for EASA, recommended significantly tighter rules in some areas that airlines maintain will make some long-haul markets economically unfeasible to operate. Carriers contend EASA has not done enough to make clear that the study does not reflect the agency's own position. Pilots, on the other hand, seek the adoption of as many of the study's recommendations as possible. One of the biggest changes is that, rather than tackling all operations in one uniform rule, EASA now will treat commercial air transport, general aviation, non-commercial operations and other categories separately. What's more, spelling out the rules for flight crew licensing and commercial air transport were given top priority. Another major change is that while EASA is sticking with its April 2012 deadline to bring the rules into effect, as dictated by European law, there will be yet-to-be-defined transition periods to allow members to come into compliance in certain areas, such as flight/duty time limitations, an EASA official says. "We have listened to our stakeholders and agreed on an approach which will allow for a smooth transition," says Patrick Goudou, EASA's executive director. Airlines and unions are particularly anxious about the process of establishing new flight/duty time rules. At an informal meeting this week, they will be briefed on the procedure EASA plans to use to devise new rules. "We believe that we will have to pursue scientifically based fatigue management," the agency states. It appears to be open to flexible solutions, saying: "Airlines can come up with their own proposed scheduling concepts, but they have to comply with our guidelines." While the departure point is the existing Subpart Q of EU Ops, it is not clear what changes may be made. In the coming months, EASA will seek formal input from stakeholders and assess scientific studies. EASA is expected to issue its opinion on new flight/duty time rules in mid-2011. The decision to alter the process comes after heavy pressure by industry representatives on the European Commission. "Throughout the period of crisis, EASA has been relentlessly promoting and augmenting its role as Europe's safety regulator, with a succession of legislative proposals of questionable effectiveness but unquestionable costliness," says an Assn. of European Airlines (AEA) delegation. The AEA has asked Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani to "closely monitor EASA activities to ensure that they remain firmly focused on safety activities and do not stray into areas of political activities." Pilots are reacting positively to the changes. "We are happy with the agency's new approach-it is quite in line with what [the European Cockpit Assn.] and other stakeholders have been asking for years," says Philip von Schoppenthau, secretary general of the ECA. However, he adds that "it remains to be seen obviously how all this will be put into practice, which is a challenge of its own." Indeed, pilots are doubtful about what may come of the flight/duty time limitation talks. "It is quite disappointing that it has taken a year since publication of the Moebus study to convene such a meeting," Von Schoppenthau says. "Since last year, the EC and EASA have been walking on eggshells. We are quite skeptical about prospects for quick progress, comparable to what we see in the U.S. Here in the EU, the regulator's political will is still missing-and, after all, the [Feb. 12 Colgan Air/Continental Connection crash near Buffalo, N.Y.] did not happen in Europe but in the U.S., so no one seems to be in a particular hurry." Pilot fatigue emerged as a possible factor in the investigation of the Colgan Air accident. Separately, EASA plans to define specific safety targets and identify focus areas requiring special attention, as the agency prepares to take on additional responsibilities in regulating European air transport. The agency's European Safety Program initiative is to be presented over the coming weeks to the EC and is scheduled to be formally launched in 2010. EASA officials say concerns are mounting that safety levels in European air transport are no longer improving, particularly following two recent fatal crashes involving Spanair and Air France. These officials also point out that there are no visible signs of improvement in helicopter and general aviation safety. And the addition of new EU members in Eastern Europe means it also has to deal with carriers still operating a considerable, albeit shrinking, number of Soviet-era passenger aircraft. EASA is also concerned about the advent of very light jets in Europe and wants to ensure pilots of those aircraft will qualify for certain minimum proficiency levels. The European Safety Program will involve European and national authorities as well as manufacturers and operators. It aims to identify key priorities for the next 5-10 years, including human factors and related training initiatives. EASA also wants to set firm targets for reducing accident rates. But particularly the case of Air France Flight 447-which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean enroute from Rio de Janeiro to Paris June 1, killing all 228 people on board-indicates that a quicker pan-European incident reporting system and more expedient sharing of relevant safety information could raise safety levels markedly. After investigation into the Flight 447 accident found that faulty pitot tubes likely played a part, EASA issued an airworthiness directive (AD) that took effect Sept. 7, requiring replacement within four months of two of three Thales pitot probes with Goodrich devices on Airbus A330s and A340s operated within its jurisdiction. The AD came after Airbus issued a service bulletin recommending the same replacement and after a series of earlier incidents involving Thales probes became public. EASA had not been aware of the preceding series of inflight incidents (nine on Air France, two on Air Caraibes A330s and A340s) until mid-2008. But in a presentation at an aviation conference in late 2007, an EASA official stated there had been several incidents in which pitot probes caused erroneous speed and/or altitude information, which is also suspected in the Flight 447 crash. The failure of pitot probes was qualified as "at least hazardous" in the presentation, since pilots would have to deal with a particularly high workload and could no longer be expected to perform all of their tasks appropriately under the circumstances. Safety margins in such a situation would be significantly reduced, pointing to a need for EASA to act. But the contents of that 2007 presentation never surfaced on EASA's agenda. The agency says highlighting industry safety issues is part of its routine work, even if no direct action follows. EASA requested more information on the nine Air France incidents and asked Airbus and Thales to come up with technical proposals last fall. EASA's ability to get quick access to crucial operational safety information, however, is hampered by European regulation and the way incidents are tracked. Manufacturers are required to record information about in-service events and extract from them what is relevant to safety. The data is entered into the member states' individual databases, which contribute to the European Occurrence Reporting System operated by the European Commission, not by EASA. But the system does not include identification of tail numbers or operators because member states are not prepared to release information that would allow comparisons and benchmarking. Notices in the system are short and useless for further investigation, so if EASA has deeper interest in a case, it must ask the member states each time if they want to share the information or not. A central, more comprehensive database is planned, but no fixed time line for it has been established. "We can improve the system in its efficiency, but in principle, it works," says one EASA official. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=awst&id=new s/EASA09209.xml&headline=EASA%20Braces%20To%20Address%20Crew%20Flight%20Time %20Rules **************** FAA Launches New Accident Prevention Office New Organization Will Consolidate FAA Safety Resources As part of a strategy to reduce emerging aviation risks using national safety data, the FAA's Office of Aviation Safety Thursday launched a new Accident Investigation and Prevention Service that integrates the work of the Offices of Accident Investigation and Safety Analytical Services. "This program give us better tools to spot potential safety problems and head off aviation accidents before they happen," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "If we are going to continue to improve aviation safety, we have to be able to gather safety information from our industry and use data-driven safety programs to identify and address risks before they lead to accidents," said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. The new organization will consolidate resources so the FAA can better understand current and emerging risks across the aviation community through the use of data from accident and incident investigations, historical accidents and incidents, and voluntarily submitted information from industry programs such as Aviation Safety Action and Flight Operational Quality Assurance programs. The Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing program combines information from industry and government data sources to provide new insights into potential safety issues. The program has matured to the point that the FAA can now look at data from more than 73 percent of current U.S. commercial operations and identify emerging vulnerabilities and trends. Safety improvements are made not only through FAA regulations, but also through the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST). The Accident Investigation and Prevention Service will be headed by Jay Pardee, who most recently was the director of the Office of Safety Analytical Services. Pardee is recognized as a leader in safety data analysis. He has been a leader in CAST, which won the 2008 Robert J. Collier Trophy for achieving an unprecedented level of safety in U.S. airline operations. He is also the agency's lead to assure that the Next Generation Air Transportation System provides enhanced levels of safety. Tony Fazio, who most recently was director of the FAA's Europe, Africa and Middle East Office in Brussels, will serve as deputy director. aero-news.net *************** New Safety System Addresses NTSB's 'Most Wanted' Issue of Runway Safety To Date, The Only Runway Safety Products To Achieve FAA Milestone Honeywell's SmartRunway and SmartLanding technologies, developed to reduce runway accidents at crowded airports, have received FAA Technical Standard Order (TSO) approval, the company announced Wednesday. The approval will allow the company to deliver its runway products to customers for aircraft installation. Honeywell has the only runway safety products to be certified by the FAA for production. SmartRunway provides visual and aural alerts to pilots about runway and taxi locations and SmartLanding informs pilots of unstable approaches and long landings, when an aircraft lands too far down the runway to safely stop. "SmartRunway and SmartLanding address the $1 billion cost of runway excursions and incursions to the commercial flight industry," said TK Kallenbach, Honeywell Vice President of Product Management. "This new software provides added situational awareness at increasingly crowded airports while reinforcing standard operating procedures." SmartRunway helps break the chain of events that can lead to a runway incursion by providing timely advisories -- aural and/or visual -- to the flight crew about aircraft position compared to runway locations in the database. SmartRunway is the next generation of Honeywell's Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS), the first runway advisory system introduced in 2004, and installed on more than 200 air transport and 1,470 business aircraft, with another 800 airline systems on order. SmartRunway offers two additional advisories over RAAS, as well as visual advisories. Boeing recently announced they are offering SmartRunway as an option on the 747-8 and 777 aircraft, and will offer it on the 737 in early 2010. B747-8 SmartLanding addresses the chain of events that can lead to a runway excursion event by notifying pilots through aural and/or visual alerts if the aircraft has not met established safety criteria on approach, to help prevent the aircraft from landing too hard or exiting the runway from the end or the sides. The Flight Safety Foundation reports that in the past 14 years, there has been an average of almost 30 runway excursion accidents per year for commercial aircraft. "The systems support both 'quiet' cockpit and 'heads-up' initiatives while complementing electronic flight bag technology by providing safety information to pilots when runway safety is at risk," said Kallenbach. "SmartRunway and SmartLanding are the latest software enhancements to our EGPWS, which is found on more than 30,000 business and air transport aircraft." The systems require just one hour of aircraft downtime for installation and minimal pilot training, and are software upgrades to Honeywell's Mark V and Mark VII Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS), the leading Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) Warning Systems. Honeywell's EGPWS contains a global terrain, obstacle and runway database and more than 600 million hours of global flight validation. FMI: www.honeywell.com aero-news.net ***************** Stricter punishments for passengers behaving badly FAA reports more than 900 cases of unruly behavior on planes over past five years Last month, a man reportedly exposed himself to passenger on Southwest Airlines FBI officials say bad behavior less tolerated on flights after September 11 attacks Unruly behavior can bring civil fines up to $25,000 or criminal charges (CNN) -- On a recent Southwest Airlines flight, a man dropped his pants and exposed himself to the female passenger sitting next to him, then punched her, according to an FBI affidavit. The plane was in midair, and the naked man reportedly grew angrier, screaming uncontrollably and shaking his fist in the air. In August, a man on Southwest Airlines exposed himself and punched a fellow passenger, an FBI affidavit says. The man had gone "berserk," said James Scanlon, a 52-year-old passenger who witnessed the August incident. "He was jeopardizing my safety on that airplane. I was afraid he would rush the cockpit or try to jump out." Laws prohibiting interference with flight crews and attendants on aircraft have been on the books for decades. But since the September 11, 2001, attacks, federal officials and airlines have clamped down on misconduct, imposing bigger fines and stricter punishments for passengers who behave badly. "Now people are more hyper-vigilant on what occurs on aircrafts," said Ron Koziol, assistant section chief for the FBI's violent crimes unit, who calls airplanes a "high-risk" environment. "The U.S. government is more aware of what can occur on an aircraft, and [officials] don't want those issues causing the plane to be in an unsafe environment." The FBI reports an average of 80 incidents aboard aircraft each year. The man on the Southwest fight, Darius Chappill, was charged in U.S. District Court in Oakland, California with interference with a flight crew and accused of exposing himself. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. The Federal Aviation Administration, which handles unruly incidents deemed to be civil violations, has reported more than 900 cases over the past five years. In 2000, a series of incidents in which passengers verbally harassed and hit crew members prompted the FAA to boost the civil penalty fine for interfering with a crew member from a maximum of $1,100 to $25,000. The FBI usually handles more serious cases of abuse or dangerous behavior. The FAA numbers don't reflect all the cases of inappropriate behavior, said Les Dorr, a spokesman for the agency. Crew members are used to experiencing the wrath of passengers who are frustrated by delays and missing baggage. Sometimes, these incidents aren't severe enough to be reported to government officials. Many confrontations occur when a flight attendant refuses to serve an intoxicated passenger another alcoholic beverage, according to flight attendants. When the temper tantrums get physical, airline officials may resort to plastic handcuffs and restraining tape. On a Frontier Airlines flight in July 2007, passenger Tamera Freeman was seen physically abusing her children, who were crying, according to court documents. The court records show that when the flight attendant refused to serve her alcohol, Freeman threw her drink at the attendant. Crew members subsequently taped Freeman into her seat, and she spent three months in jail for the incident. Passengers who fail to comply with standard airline policies -- such as staying seated when the seat-belt sign is on or turning off electronics when the plane is landing -- also spark confrontation, airline attendants said. Christina Szele, a New York passenger onboard JetBlue Airways in 2008, decided to smoke in her seat last summer despite the no-smoking law implemented on U.S. flights in 1990. Court documents revealed that when flight attendants asked Szele to stop, she began to yell obscenities and racial slurs. The flight was diverted to Denver, Colorado. Szele later was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Denver to serve five years' probation for interference with a JetBlue flight crew member. Szele was ordered to participate in anger management and drug and alcohol abuse treatment as well as fined nearly $8,000. Tim Smith, an American Airlines spokesman, reported a slight decrease in the number of incidents of misconduct this year compared with last year. The number of unruly passenger incidents tracked by the FAA also has dipped since 2004. The punishment for unruly behavior can be severe. In addition to federal charges, fines and jail time, passengers who are prosecuted may be liable for paying to divert a flight to an unscheduled airport, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Depending on the offense, the unruly passenger may be banned from the airline permanently. But some passengers said they believe the airlines and government are reacting too harshly. "You can't have a dispute on board an airline with the flight crew period," said Charles Slepian, CEO of Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center Inc., a security consulting group. "In some instances, it's a good thing. But others will say it is a violation of my First Amendment rights." Several airlines require their attendants to take courses on how to defuse confrontations and calm passengers who make belligerent threats. "We have all accepted that when we chose this career path our job is to be a safety professional," said Kelly Skyles, national safety and security coordinator for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, an organization that represents attendants at American Airlines. "I'm the eyes, ears and nose of the aircraft to report everything to the cockpit. The service part, that's just a bonus of our job." Diana Fairechild, an aviation consultant and flight attendant for two decades, said flying conditions have become more strenuous. Few airlines serve meals on domestic flights, and snacks and drinks are carefully rationed. The seating space is smaller, leaving passengers feeling crunched. There are more delays, fees and less fresh oxygen on board, she said, which can trigger angry behavior. Fairechild said she has seen the quality of customer service dwindle since September 11 as some crew members have shorter tempers in dealing with passengers who disobey the law. "Listening helps," Fairechild said on the skills she used to deal with rowdy passengers. "Patience. Just being heard makes a big difference." http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/09/18/unruly.passenger.airlines/index.html *************** World Airways phases out DC-10Fs US wet lease carrier World Airways has arranged for the early return of its two remaining McDonnell Douglas DC-10 freighters. The director of aircraft acquisitions and fleet management at World Airways parent Global Aviation Holdings, Greg Mitchell, says the carrier earlier this week reached a deal with Picl Aviation to return its two DC-10-30Fs. He says World decided to park both aircraft permanently earlier this year due to declining demand for wet-leased freighters. The first aircraft was initially parked in January when it came up for c-check and the second was initially parked in June, also when it came up for c-check. Mitchell expects Picl Aviation, which is owned by former US presidential candidate and pilot Ross Perot, will part out both aircraft. Mitchell says the return of the two DC-10 leaves World with a cargo fleet of nine MD-11Fs and two Boeing 747-400Fs. But he says one of the MD-11Fs was also parked one month ago and utilisation of the entire fleet has been low in recent months due to the downturn in the cargo market. World last year added five freighters, three MD-11Fs its first two 747-400Fs. Mitchell says when World decided to add the aircraft there was growing demand for wet-leased freighters in the US-Asia market but the aircraft ended up arriving "just as the air cargo market hit a tailspin". He says World has been planning to expand its new 747-400F fleet to five or six aircraft. But with the first two aircraft not being utilised much and mostly only flying short flights those plans have been put on hold. "World has been hit pretty hard by the downturn," he told ATI during the Cargo Facts 2009 aircraft symposium in Seattle. World also operates six MD-11 passenger aircraft but Mitchell says demand for these has remained solid during the downturn because they are wet-leased by the US military. He says the six Boeing 767s and five Boeing 757s operated by sister carrier North American Airlines also have been busy through the downturn thanks to long-term commitments from the US military. Georgia-based Global Aviation owns both World and North American. It also owned ATA Airlines, a low-cost carrier which operated a mix of scheduled and charter services before ceasing operations early last year. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** Batch of Cargolux 747-400Fs bound for UPS Luxembourg-based freight operator Cargolux has sold a Boeing 747-400F to UPS and a second aircraft will follow at the end of the month. The agreement with UPS was signed within the context of Cargolux's fleet renewal programme, focusing on the 747-8 freighter, for which the carrier is the launch customer. "The agreement with UPS was signed some time ago and concerns a total four of our older 747-400Fs," a Cargolux spokesman says. Cargolux was to have received the first of 13 747-8Fs in September 2009 but delays at Boeing mean this has been put back to "after summer 2010", the spokesman adds. "While there was some overlapping planned, given that final delivery dates of new aircraft tend to change over time, basically the intention was to receive the -8s as direct replacements for the -400s leaving the fleet," he says. "So we will fly for some time with a reduced fleet." He says the other two of the four aircraft bound for UPS are expected to leave the fleet in the second half of 2010 when the delivery of the -8 is to due to start. With the first two -400s sold to UPS, Cargolux's fleet will be reduced to 13 aircraft following its lease of a 747 to new Italian operation Cargolux Italia. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news **************** NowGen Task Force Sets Near-Term Goals for NextGen NextGen task force tells the FAA that users want a return on past investments now The need for quick relief from delays at key airports and an early return on investments already made by users are shaping thinking on which capabilities need to be implemented first in the U.S. NextGen airspace modernization program. The FAA is promising to act on the recommendations in a report submitted Sept. 9 by the RTCA task force on near-term implementation of NextGen. "The stakeholders have spoken, and given us a clear set of objectives," FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt told a conference held here last week to unveil the report. The report recommends operational capabilities that can be implemented between now and 2018 to provide early benefits for users and "improve the performance of the National Airspace System [NAS] during the transition" to NextGen, said task force Chairman Steve Dickson, Delta Air Lines senior vice president of flight operations, at the conference organized by Avionics magazine. "We have an implementation plan and the report will modulate that plan," says Babbitt. "What they want to advance we will, to the extent we can. What they are not interested in, we can slow down." The RTCA's recommendations focus on leveraging equipment already in aircraft and deploying available procedures and tools to those locations where delays are most acute. "This will go a long way to relieving congestion while laying the foundation for new technologies," says Margaret Jenny, RTCA president. Congested airports should be the focus for early implementation of NextGen operating capabilities, an industry task force tells the FAA.Credit: GERALD ISAACSON Babbitt says the report's focus on near-term capabilities will not delay implementation of the full NextGen vision. "We are getting the new technologies faster than anticipated, and hope to gain most of the benefits in the next five years. This will help," he says. Task force working-group Co-Chairman David Ford, who is also aviation strategies director for Lockheed Martin, says there was concern that the task force's focus was too near-term, but this was outweighed by the risk that users would not invest in equipping for NextGen unless they could see early benefits. "Users cannot afford to invest without getting a return on their investment," says Dickson. The report recommends a building-block approach based on deploying available capabilities, rather than on accelerating future technologies. "The task force's focus was on near-term transition issues such as policies, procedures, certification and standards," he says. "In many cases the technology is already there but has outpaced the policies and procedures needed to use it." One possible surprise in the report is the lack of mention of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), viewed as a cornerstone technology for NextGen. But Ford argues its omission is not a surprise because a dearth of near-term benefits from ADS-B prevents users from closing the business case for investing in equipping their aircraft. The report recommends operational capabilities for early implementation in five domains: surface operations, runway access, metroplex airspace, cruise and NAS access. There are also recommendations in two "cross-cutting" areas: data communications and integrated air traffic management. Airport surface operations can be improved by integrating surveillance and exchanging information between en route, terminal and system operations, the report says. "We need one accountable point of responsibility within the FAA to consolidate operations across lines of business," says Steve Vail, task force working-group co-chairman and senior advisor on global air traffic operations for FedEx. "Users need to provide intent to the FAA, to say when they are getting ready to push back. In return, the FAA has to provide flow-management metering times so we know when the aircraft will really be at the gate," Vail says. Recommendations for improving runway access focus on increasing the throughput of parallel, crossing and intersecting runways where dependent operations limit capacity. Specific operational capabilities sought are: expanded use of the converging runway display aid; integrating satellite navigation into instrument landing system procedures; staggered approaches to runways fewer than 2,500 ft. apart; use of multilateration for precision runway monitoring; and reassessment of the 20-year-old blunder assumptions that set current minimum runway separations for parallel approaches. For metropolitan areas with several airports, such as New York, the task force recommends forming tiger teams to integrate procedure design so as to decouple operations at the airports. "We want RNAV [area navigation] everywhere and RNP [required navigation performance] where we can get it," says Vail. Cruise efficiency can be increased through real-time knowledge of the status of special-use airspace, to improve flight planning, and expanded use of time-based metering, required time of arrival and RNP routes, says Ford. The task force also identifies "overarching enablers" that would speed the transition to NextGen by incentivizing equipage. These include reducing the cost to users through low-interest loans, direct subsidies, tax breaks or a "Next-Gen Equipage Bank." Other enablers would increase the benefits to users and include the concept of providing service based on "best equipped, best served" rather than first come, first served. http://www.aviationweek.com *************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC